The Joe Maddon themed road trips are back and this one is for a good cause, with Maddon going with a “Nerd” theme in honor of Ken Rosenthal who wears a bow tie for his national TV appearances to support various charities. The Rays will donate $3,000 ($100 per bow tie) to various charities.

Here are the individual players. There is a group picture below which can be enlarged…

I agree about Rodney! Not clear if he just didn't get what sort of dress was required here, or whether he just couldn't bring himself to look like a fool.

I still can't decide whether these themed road trips are foolhardy bids for attention that make the Rays look like amateurs, or great ways to keep everyone loose and, by the way, get some positive national media for the Rays (hey, instead of talking about the poor attendance at the Toronto series they are talking about bow ties!)

It's stuff like this that bonds a team and keeps the guys loose. They're professionals playing a kid's game; if they don't keep having fun, it becomes just a job, and they would not perform as well, imo.

There are actually a few people missing including BJ, Luke Scott, Matt Joyce, and Ben Zobrist. The only official word we heard was that Scott didn't dress up. Maybe BJ didnt dress up, or maybe he was late, or maybe he had an excuse to take a different flight. Not sure.